Welsh History

A detailed Summary of Welsh History

Wales has a tumultuous and somewhat violent history. During the early years A.D., the country was in turmoil with the Roman invasions, and the biggest defenses that the Welsh had were the deep, dark hills scattered all over the country. Without the safety of these hills, Wales would certainly have been taken over by the Romans. After the Romans left Wales, the Vikings presented a new threat to the peaceful lands of Wales. The Romans also had a huge effect on the Welsh religion and language. Wales was affected both negatively and positively by these invasions.

In 55 B.C., Julius Caesar planned a series of exploratory expeditions into Wales, which were inspired by tales of large deposits of gold in the vast hills in North Wales. (Millet, 1995, p.187) These explorations prepared the ground for the arrival of the Roman armies (Cunliffe, 1990, p.203). In 43 A.D., the Roman army arrived on the shores of Wales to attempt a completion of their new Roman British empire (Tedesco, 178, p. 387). Wales had a strong military history that took a central role in society as far back as 1200 B.C. (Thompson, 1989, p.735). The old Roman boast "Veni, Vidi, Vici" ("I came, I saw, I conquered") might have been applied to other plac

Before the Roman invasions, the religion of the Welsh people was a worship of nature, in which some animals were seen as gods. It somewhat resembled the Greeks and Latins in the way that they worshipped ideas instead of material items (Phillips, 1980, p. 298). By the end of the Roman occupation, most of the Welsh had become Christian, and the pagans were only found in remote villages (Perry, 1969, p. 532). Many native Welsh bishops condemned St. Augustine because he was a Saxon, and refused to be converted into Christians. This attitude nearly drove the Welsh church to schism, but this period of unrest was short-lived, and in the 9th century, Wales renounced their so-called unorthodox customs and grudgingly accepted the jurisdiction of Canterbury (Burke, 1983, pp. 195-196). After this, it was the boast of Welshmen that their country never swerved from their Catholic and Roman faith (Dunst, 1987, p. 429).

The Roman occupation had many effects on the Welsh culture, including the language. Ancient Welsh is very close to Latin in some ways, and has borrowed many of its vocabulary from Latin, although generations of Welsh people have modified the words to suit regional dialects. Most words in Ancient Welsh that have to do with religion or theology are derived from Latin (Morgan, 1985, p. 367) Welsh as a language is also very similar to the Celtic language, and is in fact almost the same except for some modifications and spellings. Welsh is also similar to Irish

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Approximate Word count = 989
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History